Idora Park museum open this weekend

Staff report

CANFIELD

The Idora Park Experience museum, dedicated to memorabilia of the long-gone amusement park on Youngstown’s South Side, will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Admission to the private museum, at 4450 S. Turner Road, owned and operated by Jim and Toni Amey, is $5 (free for children 12 and under).

For information, go to idoraparkexperience.com.

The Ameys have also written a book, “Lost Idora Park,” which is being published by Arcadia Publishing and is scheduled to be released on Aug. 12. The book can be preordered on the website.

It has been 35 years since fire destroyed Idora Park’s two premier rides and its Midway, ultimately causing the park’s closure at the end of the 1984 season and the auctioning off of its assets later that year.

Since then, all signs of the iconic park have been erased and the property that once hosted big name entertainers and hundreds of thousands of parkgoers every summer stands vacant with little sign of what was once there. Gone are the sounds of the roller coasters, children’s laughter and the aroma of french fries, cotton candy and popcorn.

The Ameys have spent the past 25 years scouring the country to gather lost artifacts from Idora Park and bring them home. They built the museum in 2014 and have opened it to the public nine times since then. It has been more than a year since the museum was last open, and the Ameys say previous museum visitors will be surprised at the artifacts that have been added and how the museum has changed in the past year.

Their collection includes several ride cars from all three roller coasters, a Rapids/Lost River Boat, the complete Kiddietrain, a Silver Rocketship, and several other ride artifacts as well as original park signage and memorabilia.

The Ameys also built a mock replica of Idora Park’s Arcade in the museum which serves as home for several original arcade games from Idora Park.

“Most of the old arcade games work and some even give prizes for winning, although they can be temperamental at times,” said Jim Amey. “We want people to play the games and win the prizes. It’s heartwarming to see the excitement of the children when they play the games and win prizes and even more so when you see adults playing the same games they played at Idora Park years ago.”

The Ameys say they have had many heartwarming and memorable interactions with visitors at the museum.